At Home on the Earth: Harvest and Hearth Day

In the spirit of the change of seasons, transitions from the activity and outward directed energies of summer, to the infolding and gathering energies of fall, I’d like to invite everyone to join me at the lovely Riverstone Farm in Floyd, on Saturday, October 17th, from 12 noon till 8pm.

Among the activities of the day will be introductions to natural way-finding, shelter-building, fire-making and we’ll finish up the day with a Riverstone farm sourced, harvest meal cooked over an open campfire using primitive cooking techniques! Of course, no campfire is complete without stories and songs…so bring some to share.

Event is rain or shine, so come dressed for the weather. All ages are welcome, including kids accompanied by parents. The cost is $30/per person for the day, and includes supper. Contact me if you’re interested in arranging a work-trade or sliding scale. We do ask that everyone register and pay before hand so I can get the supplies and food. You can send money via Paypal here: paypal.me/natintelldesigns or make other arrangements with me at naturalintelligencedesigns@gmail.com.

Details of activities for the day:

All activities will be geared towards beginners and will be fun introductions to important skills that should practiced later for mastery.

Way-Finding is the blending of the cognitive skills that we can grow allow us to perceive and to internalize a landscape, with the capacity to observe and interpret ecological cues, such as weather, flora, and stars that we can learn to “read.” The blend of the two deeply strengthens the ability to have a “sense of direction” and to know where we are and are headed at all times.

Shelter-building is the ability to create from found, natural materials, temporary structures to protect ourselves from the elements.

Learning from the pros.

Exposure is the typically the most immediate danger in a survival situation, so shelter is a key skill.

Fire-making. We will primarily cover common issues in starting and maintaining fires in difficult situations. We might play around with bow-drill/friction fires, but the focus will be on quick, one match, or lighter started fires using natural tinder and fuel.

Photo from: http://www.eattheweeds.com/mesolithic-cooking-it’s-the-pits-2/

Cooking. We will explore a number of ways to cook food without utensils or pots or pans. We will prepare a variety of foods, vegetable and animals as our ancestors did.